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T O P I C R E V I E W

SkyMan1958

Do you have a collecting focus, or do you follow more of a scattershot approach to collecting? Talk a little bit about how your collecting has evolved over time (if it has), and if possible include a picture of something from your collection.

My predominant collecting goal has been, and continues to be, to collect at least one flown item from every Mercury, Gemini and Apollo flight (MGA). Of the 27 flights (I do not include Skylab or ASTP in Apollo) I still need to get something flown from Freedom 7.

Along the way of collecting flown MGA material I've branched out a bit. I decided to try and get signatures from all the astronauts who flew the MGA and Vostok/Voskhod flights. I also got interested in Skylab 3 (or Skylab II), and in collecting some flown shuttle material. In particular I've gotten interested in collecting material (flown and unflown) having to do with Apollo 12.

Here are the checklist pages from Apollo 12 having to do with the period of launch when the craft was struck by lightning.

p51

My main goal is to have a flight suit used by an astronaut, from pretty much any era. I also would love to get my hands on any T-38 flight gear used by NASA. However, i truly doubt I'll ever fulfill any of these goals because I just can't justify the amazing expense of anything like that when they get offered for sale.

Signatures and small pieces of cut-up items hold very little interest for me, but I don't sneer on those who are into that stuff. To each his/her own!

Hart Sastrowardoyo

Used to be scattershot with a little bit of everything, but now focused on Shuttle-era, since I grew up with the program. Not only my Space Shuttle: The First 20 Years program, but signed photos of the 355 astronauts who flew on shuttle as well as those who trained or were selected for Shuttle.

That, and signed photos for those astronauts I've met in person (regardless of what program).

tnperri

My goal is to have at least one of every known flown metal medallions, excluding Fliteline and Robbins (unless I hit the lotto).

Getting there, only 16 more of the 225 I know about.

fredtrav

My first goal was to have a signed copy of every astronaut authored book. I lack only a couple now.

Then I sort of went scattershot. I then determined to get an autograph of every MGA era astronaut (classes 1-7) and have achieved that. Now trying for the first 15 astronaut classes and am only lacking one.

Starting in on the rest. Goal now is to have an autograph of all astronauts, especially any who have flown on American vehicles. Have not started on the cosmonauts and don't plan to at this time.

Would like to get a flown artifact from every MGA flight but have a long way to go. Have to win a lottery. Have Apollo 8, 11, 12, 15, 16, and 17, but nothing large. Have a nice size piece of MA-9 heatshield, so a long way to go to get to this goal.

Philip

I used to collect these books as well.

However, almost every international cosmonaut and astronaut (and their backup) has written a book about their training and mission... so that a lot of books.

Sold all by now...

randy

I'm still pretty much a scatter-shot collector. Right now, my main goal is to complete my collection of moon walkers autographs. I have 11 of the 12, missing only Armstrong.

Gonzo

I'd have to say mine is "lightly-scattered". When I first started, it was just mission patches. Through the years, I've added a few other items that I thought would be good to add - a few medallions/coins (moonpan's A-17 included), a presentation or two, that kind of thing.

That being said, I'm almost all patches. My main interest is in Apollo, with Mercury and Gemini a close second. And like many others, A-11 is my favorite. I currently have about 18-20 variations of the A-11 patch alone, with another 30 patches related to A-11. My goal is to someday have all the known variations of A-11 and all the MGA related patches as well (not just mission patches). Unlike Hart, who's apparently just a kid , I grew up in the Apollo era. My parents thought I was nuts to want to stay up and watch the lunar landing when I was just 10.

Anyway, my collection includes all the US manned missions up to ISS-10 I think, (Gemini/Mercury/Apollo/ASTP/STS and some ISS), a lot of foreign patches and a boatload of mission related patches and program patches too. Currently pushing 600 unique patches. My intent is to someday leave this all to my daughter, who is also a geek, but in a different way. She'll appreciate what it meant to me (and it's value), even if she's not a space geek.

englau

Hmm, I haven't become a really advanced collector yet - partly because I'm still in college and don't have a ton of discretionary money. But I would like to end up with a litho of all of the female astronauts - preferably signed (but that will take even longer, I know!). I'm working on some multi-signed pieces right now... one model of a space shuttle and then that three shuttle model of the active fleet.

GoesTo11

My collection is concentrated in three areas: Patches, books, and ready-made models.

I don't do autographs (although I've acquired a handful over the years just by chance) simply because they don't hold enough fascination for me to justify the expense, especially in the case of M-G-A era astronauts. Not casting aspersions on anyone else, that's just me.

Related, I don't--and likely won't--have the discretionary income to play in the "big leagues" of flown items, hardware etc.

So, my "goals" as a collector are really pretty simple: Get the coolest stuff I like and have the most fun I can within my means.

cfreeze79

The picture of "Snoopy" that was flown on Apollo 10, and featured in the broadcast. It was on Astro Auctions a few years ago and, due to a technical problem with the website, I was unable to bid (as were others, no doubt) in the final hours.

My "one that got away..." I still shed a tear every so often over it.

Cliff Lentz

Plan? I'm supposed to have a plan? I have no plan. I know what I'd like to have, what I can afford to have and what I really can't afford to have. Maybe my plan is to be able to someday afford what I can't now!

onesmallstep

I started collecting during the Apollo era, so until fairly recently the bulk of my 'archive' (books, NASA pamphlets, lithos and other ephemera) was all from the 60s and 70s. I soon realized (thanks to cS and knowledgeable posters) that anything space-related was going up in value, especially with the end of the shuttle. So I began backtracking and began obtaining flown samples from all five shuttles, in addition to lithos/photos and other print material.

I don't go for 'high-end' expensive items, with my budget set for around $100 for one or multiple items. The exception was a recent sale by a retired UK space reporter where I picked up some nice items like Soviet pamphlets, medallions and LP recordings of Mercury/Apollo flights. The only concession to 'completeness' I have is my collection of space event covers for every US manned launch/recovery/landing from Shepard until STS-51L/Challenger. These are my most valuable, so I guess I can start to complete it before I retire!